Ashlyn: Months 5 &6

Okay...so after my sister in law emailed me looking for an update I realized it was time because she was the 13th or 14th person to ask me! Life has been very full and there have always been a hundred other things to do rather than blog. I will catch up and try to stay with the blogging!

Ashlyn is so big! She's just become this really entertaining and energetic little one! She and Preston play and have tons of fun together! The favorite activity of both is when Ashlyn wakes up from a nap. Presotn will come running to tell me that he hears her through the monitor and will jump up and down in front of her door until I open it. Ashlyn (who usually is crying when she first wakes up) will immediately start to coo upon hearing her brother bust through the door and scramble to climb in her crib. The smile on her face at seeing him plop in her bed is so sweet that it never fails to make me teary eyed! The two of them will play in her bed for as long as I will let them. Preston turns on her mobile and they just have fun! I love seeing their little relationship grow and flourish!

She started to crawl in her 6th month and hasn't slowed down a bit since!!!!! We had been waiting and waiting for her to do it and then one evening Preston was playing on my laptop and up she goes and chases after it. Pres caught on to this quickly and we had a good hour of moving the computer from one side of the room to the other. She started off on her knees but doing a low crawl with her arms! It was too cute!

She is also eating food. The girl has a BIG appetite and I have yet to find a food she won't eat! Now she just needs to hurry up and get some teeth!!!!

Words
ma ma
da da
bubba

Favorite Food
Strawberry yogurt

Favorite Toy
Preston's blanket!!!!!

Here are some pictures to update you on the kiddos!

Pres and Mommy date!

I was able to take Preston and have a day with just him. We went to Alpin Farm in Dothan and it was a blast. We took a hay ride, picked a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, cut down our own sunflower from the field, went through the corn maize, and played with all of the animals! It was a great day! I was so glad to have the time with him! Thank you to my special peanut for spending the time with me!

Here we are on our way to the farm!

Sometimes it's the small things...

that can turn a bad situation into something hilarious! Pres has had an ear infection and we've been doing the medicine battle for about 5 days. It has been a loooooong five days and the other night after bath, Pres was hiding from me in order to not take his medicine. While hiding and screaming "NO" in the closet, he found this bathing suit for Ashlyn next year. He wanted to put on the bottoms and because I was so frustrated I decided to put it on him and take as many embarrassing pictures as I could. Years from now, I will bring these out-maybe for a first girlfriend-and will feel no shame because I will remember how tired I was this night!

As a small disclaimer and in Preston's defense, he did realize this was a bathing suit and wanted to put it on to go swimming!

His face says it all...

...this is how he looked when I went to pick him up. So sad!!!! He wouldn't even go and play on the playground. He stood next to the steps waiting for me to come back. The drop off this morning was pretty awful so we'll see how today's pick up goes. I'm giving it two weeks and if he still hates it, then there is no point in making him go.

Pres' first day of school

****UPDATE****

Pres did okay at school. Ms. Amanda said that there were a lot of tears. He wasn't too interested in participating, but hopefully that will change.

This morning I dropped off one happy Preston for his first day of school. He didn't even cry and I was so glad for that! I'm not sure I could have left him there if he had been in tears.

We were able to get him into the Mother's Day Out program at Hillcrest Baptist here in Enterprise, Alabama. I had heard wonderful things about the program and was glad when I got the call that they were opening up a third two year old class so they had a spot for Preston. We went last Friday and met his teacher Ms. Amanda. She is very sweet and the classroom in adorable. He goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30-12:30.

For those of you that don't know, I taught preschool for years (in fact, it lead to me meeting Pete!). My standards because of this are a bit high and I was pleased to find that Hillcrest met them all! I love that Preston will have chapel on Thursdays and get art, library, story, and free play time! It is my hope that he will learn to play well with others (Megan-L will be glad about that!) and have something that belongs to just him. He's been such a great big brother to Ashlyn that he has more than earned something that is all his! This also gives me some time with just Ashlyn and since her big brother is very demanding of my time, this will be good for her as well.

I'll update this afternoon after I pick Pres up from school. I'm also going to try and get some pictures from his classroom. I didn't take any this morning because I wasn't too sure how the drop off would go!

The catch up Part 1:Pres' b-day party

We've been super busy here and I have lots to catch up on! I'll start with the pictures from Pres' second birthday party that took place on July 11th (I am REALLY behind!) and work my way up! Ashlyn is two months old now! She is really starting to become fun, but we'll get to that later. For now, here are the pictures from Pres' b-day!

Pete made the Thomas cake from scratch! He did the face with fondant! It was really amazing and I can't wait to see what he does next year.

There were a lot of kids, friends, food, and tons of fun. Preston has so many great little friends here and we had a great time playing with everyone. Preston received so many wonderful gifts! I have two people to say a big "thank you" to! First to the Davis clan that showed up early to help! I completely underestimated the time it took to get things done with a toddler and a newborn. If they hadn't shown up when they did, then nothing would have been ready! Thank you Jeanne Anne for keeping Ashlyn happy while I ran around cleaning and decorating and also thank you to Mark for finding that Thomas balloon!!!!! A second special thanks to Melissa for once again finding her way around my kitchen! Not only did she get the food ready for the kiddos, but she did dishes. I have wonderful friends!!!!!

We are still going!!!!

So...today Pete and I are celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary! I started off the day in a great way. The nasty, rainy weather here finally worked in my favor. Pete's PT this morning was cancelled so since he was awake, he took Ashlyn this morning and let me sleep in! Thank you so much my wonderful hubby!!!!!!!!! You are an amazing father and husband. The past 7 years have been a blast and I look forward to the years to come! I love lamp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are going to celebrate today with some lemon martini's and grilled steaks!

I know everyone is dying for some pictures, so here we go!







and the tired momma three weeks post delivery...not quite where I want to be but I am getting close!

Happy Second Birthday Baby Boy!

On June 21st, Pres turned two years old! I can hardly believe it! I'm a little late in posting but it has been a crazy two weeks adjusting to having two little ones in the house! We will be celebrating his birthday with a party on July 11th.

Pres is such a big boy in some ways that when I look at him, it makes me a little sad. I am slowly losing my baby boy in a lot of ways, but luckily he still likes to snuggle with his mommy! He's so independent and wants to do EVERYTHING on his own! He is talking in full sentences and knows all of his colors, numbers 1-15, and the alphabet (although he is awful stingy in saying that one!) He is also picking up Spanish very quickly and it never fails to make me laugh as he will grab Pete's hand and go "vamanos daddy, vamanos" (let's go daddy, let's go) when he wants Pete to take him outside. He has learned to put on and take off his Crocs or "crockies" as he calls them (thanks Dad, he learned that from you!) and will always proudly announce when he has done either one.

Pres and Pete are such good buddies now. They play and laugh and have a great time together. I'm not sure all they do outside, but they both come back in dirty, sweaty, and smelly from their fun.

He is being such a good big brother that Pete and I are amazed. We knew he was a secret softy underneath all of that boyness, but it took Ashlyn to bring it out. He will come up to her and give her head a gentle kiss all throughout the day. He also gets upset with me when I give her a bath because he thinks that she is hurt because she screams so loud. The whole time I am bathing her, Pres is tugging on my shirt telling me "NO MOMMY".

There is so much more, but those are the highlights of the things I do not want to forget. I'll end this with a little personal note to my big boy.

"Pres- Mommy and Daddy love you so much. You have come into our world and made it so much better. Life is more colorful and interesting being able to see it through your big blue eyes. I hope you always are as willful and strong as you are now. You, my bubba, will change the world!"

Happy Birthday Ashlyn Elizabeth!

She has arrived!!!!! It took us a little longer than we thought, but she is finally here! Here stats are 7-6 and 20 inches long! She put her brother to shame in that department! I forgot the camera cord (which will make sense at the end of this blog) in all of the craziness so I just have the picture from my phone. I promise better ones to come.

So...yesterday I came up to the hospital and went into their evaluation area. I was evaluated and despite contractions (and painful ones at that) I was not dilated any further than I had been on Monday. After talking to the doctor on call (not MY doctor) they decided to send me home. I was irritated and a little embarrassed. I had been sure that this was it and labor had begun (for the record, I was right). Anyways so we came home and I had a second night of constant contractions. When morning came around I was in so much pain with the constant contractions that I was pretty grumpy. Because of what had happened the day before, I hesitated and didn't want come in again and be sent home. I second guessed myself and spent all morning in terrible pain under the impression that I was just a big baby. By 10:30am my attitude was screw the nurses and that I was going to the hospital and not coming home no matter what they said. (Foe those of you that don't know, the hospital is an hour away so these drives are not easy to make under normal circumstances!) I called Pete to come home and had him call my doctor and speak with his nurse. She recommended that I go straight to the hospital. It's about and hour drive and by the time Pete was home and I was able to get dressed, I was literally crawling on the floor because the contractions were so constant. The drive to the hospital was awful and with about 15 minutes to go, I realized that it was time to push. This baby was ready to come and I rolled over (I was in the very back with my sister) ready to go. Lynne and Pete both panicked and begged me to hold on. We finally arrived at the ER and Lynne ran in to get someone. The next part is straight out of a terrible movie comedy with me barely being able to sit in the wheel chair having to explain to the VERY slow receptionist that I was in labor and about to deliver the baby right there in the lobby. After some yelling on my part the ding dong lady finally realized that I needed to get upstairs right then and there. She wheeled me upstairs and instead of labor and delivery took me to the evaluation area. I was really screaming at this point as I knew my water had broken and could feel the baby's head between my legs. As luck would have it, my OB was having lunch there with some of the nurses and heard me screaming. He came over a little shocked at how forceful I was being and told the nurses that he would do my evaluation. He again was shocked to discover that I was fully dilated and the baby was coming. In between telling Pete that I was just too tired to push and actually pushing, I had my beautiful baby girl out in about two minutes! I never even made it into Labor and Delivery!

Ashlyn was born in the teeny tiny evaluation room. After she was out, the nurses from the day before all came in to see me and were shocked at how fast the whole process was. The receptionist from L&D that was so irritated that she had to do my paperwork twice actually came in and apologized for saying anything. The long and short of it was that they should have kept me yesterday and monitored me for longer. If they had, then they would have noticed that I was indeed in full blown labor not in pre-labor. My OB was quite irritated with the process but was glad that it all worked out. He even joked that now he gets to sleep in tomorrow morning because I was his first patient of the day!

Preston came up to see his sister and was so sweet with her. He kept saying, my sisti" and telling us all to "ssshh the baby is sweeping". I can't wait to upload the pictures.

I would like to say a BIG thank you first to my sister. She sat in the back of the car with me while I was having the single most uncomfortable car ride of my life and simply sat with me so that I did not feel alone. The second BIG thank you I have is for my mom. My mom has Preston and he is happy as can be having his cousin Dyer and his "Mawm Mawm" with him. That was my biggest worry about giving birth and knowing that Pres is in such good hands really is a huge help. I know that I will come home to a happy Peanut, a clean house, and lots of love. That is priceless.

Here is a picture of Ashlyn and I taken from my phone. I'm pretty tired looking after two nights of no sleep!




My baby girl peacefully sleeping!



Daddy and Ashlyn!

A great weekend...

The sun was FINALLY shining and the temperature was nice and hot (and crazy humid, but we'll focus on the good!). We had a great weekend as a family of three. We are trying to take advantage of these last days before the lack of sleep and new routine make us all a little crazy for a while. With my new camera in tow, we spent time washing cars, cleaning out the garage, and lots of other last minute projects. We also had a wonderful home cooked Thai meal courtesy of the best neighbor anyone could ask for...seriously...we are so blessed to have this wonderful group of people here in Alabama and the fact that one happens to live next door with three young boys for Pres to play with is just icing on the cake!

Here are some pictures from my fun new camera!

First things first, living a little out in the middle of nowhere brings about lots of funny animals. We came home on Friday to this turtle making his way into our garage! I called next door so that her boys could see and I'm pretty sure that turtle put the word out to STAY AWAY from our part of the neighborhood. We have four over zealous little boys (five if you count Pete) that are all trying to out man each other for how gutsy they can be with any creature!






While Pete and I were washing cars, Pres went back and forth between "helping" with the cars and playing in the water table.






The next day, we had been working on finishing up the yard project I made Chrissy do! It was such a hot day that after the work was done, we had fun with sidewalk paint, shaving cream, and the hose! I love that Pete is always up for whatever crazy, fun idea I have for Pres! My best childhood memories are of my parents letting us be silly and I hope the my kiddos can have the same smiles and continue on with the next generation the tradition that no task is too important and no hair day is good enough to be too concerned with having messy fun!







Last but not least, play time inside. Pres walking around in my winter boots is the funniest thing! He is such a skinny minny and the boots seem to really make it stand out!



A big thank you to my boys for making it such a nice time. I enjoyed every minute (even having dried shaving cream paint in my hair!)

The big "reveal"

Pete has wanted to cut Pres' hair for weeks. I've been fighting it as I love his baby curls. I decided that while he was gone (and I had Chrissy who knows how) I would give Pres a nice little buzz cut to surprise my hubby with. It was quite the experience with Preston having an absolute fit about the whole thing. Once it was over, he was completely happy and kept giggling at his new reflection! The amazing thing is that I had noticed his roots were coming in blond. My auburn haired baby boy is now a full blown blonde!

The "before" shot. He had a bribe of a Little Debbie cake and a Thomas video. He had no idea what was coming!


The "during" shot. He looks as if he is being tortured, but all of that crying didn't seem to stop him from eating his cake!


All of his curls...gone...a little sad for this mommy!


Here is a good "after" shot. It was taken the next day. He looks like such a big boy!


Pete was so pleased with his hair. It was worth all of the effort to make both of my boys so happy! Pres loves not having to wash his hair like before and keeps rubbing his head saying "soft" and Pete loves that his baby boy and he have the same hair cut! Here's a shot Pete took of Pres in his boots with his new hair cut.

Chrissy's Visit

Chrissy finally made it home last night after a one day delay. I owe her big time for putting up with small town airports!!!!! Anyways...we had a great time. It's amazing how quickly the time goes. It felt like she was only here for a quick visit when in fact it ended up being 11 days! We spent our days extremely busy and yet not really doing too much. I was able to play with Asher and watch Chrissy play with Preston. In short (and because my time with her is special and I'll keep it in my heart) we stayed up too late talking at night, had lots of yummy dinners, did a lawn project (owe her big for that one too!), and got acquainted with each others' kiddos!

Thank you so much for coming Chrissy and give that big 'ole hubby of yours a hug for me for missing you and Asher for 11 days! (Also Ry...Riverwood or bust my friend...this time was like a big teaser for what could be!)

Here are some pictures of the visit. We didn't take too many because we really just spend our time enjoying the moments instead of worrying about capturing them.


Perhaps another future rock star in the making?!

Preston deciding he wants to be the baby for a bit!

The "high chair posse"...these boys get to grow up together and now I have pictures to embarrass them with in their teenage years!

Pete was able to spend two days with them as well! Asher was in full missing daddy mode and was glad to have a scratchy face in the house! This picture is so near and dear to me because Asher's expression is so much like his daddy's! I have a picture of Pete and Ryan coming home from Afghanistan and you could substitute Asher for Ryan...it's amazing!


A BIG P.S. We did one more thing while Chrissy was here with Preston...the big reveal as to what it was is coming later in the week!

Florida

Preston and I snuck down to Florida for about a week. When I say snuck, I mean with a capital "S" because my doctors would be none too happy to have me far away. Oh well...Pete was leaving, I needed to try out my new meds and couldn't be alone...after all, I am supposed to be resting. I didn't really have any other options. Luckily my mom came and drove me down and then will be driving me back on the 7th.

Here are some updates:

Tried the new heart meds and did not tolerate them AT ALL! I was stumbling around like an old drunk man! I went back down to my old dose and am doing okay. I'm having some uncomfortable tachy moments, but nothing too severe.

Pete is in SERE school. We miss him-especially Pres. My little guy is having MAJOR separation anxiety and won't let me out of his sight right now. He asks for daddy as soon as he wakes up from nap and bedtime and it gets a little hairy as I remind him that daddy is away at school but will be home soon. I hope this will taper off in a week or so as he gets used to the routine again with just me. Sneaking to Florida has helped as my dad is helping with lots of snuggles for Pres. This means that either myself or my dad has Pres nipping at our heels all day long. As for myself, it sucks being 9 months preggo (tomorrow!)without the hubby.

Chrissy and Asher are coming to visit!!!!!! I am so excited! For the last 10 days that Pete is gone my BFF is going to come and be with me! Woo-hoo!!!!! If I can't have Pete with me then Chrissy is the only person that can come close 2nd(sorry Chrissy...I think Pete is cuter or you'd probably be my number 1!) I also get to meet that beautiful baby boy of hers and I CAN NOT WAIT! She will come and boss me and make me rest and that is why I love her! Not too many people have the balls to put me in my place but Chrissy is one of them!

Please pray for a family member. They are not doing well and it looks as if they won't be with us for much longer.

Last and certainly not least, Ashlyn is coming soon! I can't wait to meet her and I also can't wait to not be pregnant! I look forward to the days when I have two beautiful children, normal size hands, feet, and face and no more porn star boobs...oh and a heart that beats like a normal persons!

OB Update

Yesterday was yet another check up with the OB. I was able to get a little redemption from my last visit. You see, every time the cardiologist increases my meds, I spend about a week swelling up like a balloon. I have explained this side effect again and again to my OB but each and every time I just get a look. A look that says, "suuuure...you are just a fat pig." It is super annoying and I have finally reached a point where they can just kiss my swollen Macy's balloon tushy! Anyways...I digress...so I go to the check up yesterday and surprise surprise I have actually lost weight from my last visit. My OB looks at me and says that I must be having some issues with swelling. In my head all kinds of sarcastic and mean things are going on so I just looked at him and said nothing. His response was that I was sitting there looking at him like he was an alien (I am such a terrible liar that even when I say nothing, my face gives it all away!). At that statement I again said nothing. I just couldn't for the life of me think of something nice to say. I think all of this time stuck at home is really beginning to get to me! I did manage to change the subject and was so proud of myself for finally just letting him know how aggravated I am that he and my cardiologist seem to have some sort of pissing contest as to who's time is more valuable. Seriously can't they just put ego aside and finally come up with a delivery plan for me or what?! (They can't decide on a date to meet and the cardiologist did not like the date the OB picked out and it goes on and on!) Luckily for me, my OB agreed that they needed to put their information together. Hopefully something will finally come from that, but if not, I will just have to keep being bold with these doctors.

I'll end this post as well with some pictures of Pres.

The first one is for Gramma Susan. I want for her to see all of Pres' curls.


The next one is of us having fun with shaving cream. My mom is here to help out right now and we played in the back yard. Please ignore my swollen feet and face!